Chapter Six – "In the Middle of a Metaphor"
Previously – In their waking lives, Zendall investigated their dreams of each other. Lily advised Kendall, who suspects that her Dream Lover is real, to ask him for a verifiable fact and Greenlee showed Zach the picture of a girl who everybody once thought was like a daughter to Erica Kane. Her name? Kendall Hart. As we join our Dreamers today, each has much on their minds and in their hearts.
Zach waited by the ship's railing, seemingly oblivious to the rather large iceberg that was dead ahead.
"Funny," a familiar voice greeted him, "you don't look like Leonardo Dicaprio. Am I on the right boat?"
She was dressed in white and silver. Her gown shimmered in the cool night air. She shimmered in the cool night air. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. He couldn't imagine wanting to take his eyes off of her.
"Been waiting long, Handsome?" she asked playfully. He was in a tuxedo, wearing it as if he'd been born to wear one. During the long days, she'd almost forget how manly, how completely devastatingly manly he was. He was, therefore, something of a surprise to her every night. Every single, sweet night.
"Catch!" he called, tossing her a life jacket. "This may come in handy, Lovely. We are smack in the middle of a disaster at sea."
"We are smack in the middle of a metaphor," she rephrased, catching the life jacket and throwing it over the side. "You and I are sailing on choppy seas, Matey." She took a deep breath, beating back the waves of desire that were hitting her. She had to find out something from him before coherent thought became impossible. Lily had advised her to ask him for a fact she could check. If it turned out to be true, he was more than her dream. "Tell me something I don't know."
"There's an iceberg closing in on us," he complied. "Or we're closing in on the iceberg. Depends on how you look at it."
"Some fact I'm not aware of," she elaborated. "Tell me something about Las Vegas that I can check."
"They gamble there," he said. "Or did you know that already?"
"Be serious, Zach."
How did she know his name? She was his dream, he reminded himself. Why shouldn't she know his name? He pulled her into his embrace until he could feel her heart beating in time with his. He never wanted her as much as he did then. Was it the sea air? The premonition that disaster was about to befall them? Her amazing eyes? Her luscious lips? Her incredible hair? Her lithe body, that fit his in ways he had never imagined possible?
"Can't be more serious than this," he whispered in her ear before he kissed her again. And again.
"You're Zach Slater," she summarized, trying her best to concentrate as she tried her best to breathe. "We met in Las Vegas when Ryan and I went there to bring home my Mother."
"That was Bianca, not you," he corrected her, not letting her go, wishing he never had to let her go, praying he would never wake up. What did she say? "You remember meeting me in Vegas?"
"I don't remember a thing," she admitted, holding onto him for dear life, "but you are Zach Slater, aren't you?"
"Yes," he confirmed, caressing her luxuriant auburn hair as it blew free in the evening air. "And you are Kendall Hart."
That got her attention. "Yes! But I never told you my name! How did you know?"
"He knows because he's part of your dream," a dreary voice inside her head intoned. "How else could he know?"
She stepped away from him and watched the iceberg float nearer. That was an illusion, wasn't it? They were moving toward the iceberg, not the other way around.
"Ryan and Greenlee showed me a picture of you," he explained, following her worried gaze. "In my Pine Valley, they're married."
"In my Pine Valley, Greenlee divorced Ryan and left town," Kendall said, totally bewildered. "A picture of me? Why would they have a picture of me?"
He explained about the Enchantment holiday card.
"They said you were like a daughter to Erica Kane. Right up until you stabbed her in the back and tried to steal her Company out from under her."
Kendall frowned. "I am a daughter to Erica Kane."
Zach nodded, unwilling to argue the point. "I'm going to find you, now that I know you exist," he informed her. "Nothing can stop me."
She didn't take the news all that well. "You did find me!" she insisted. "After I woke up last night, you appeared outside my bedroom window!"
"I know I did," he told her, gently taking her back into his arms. (He wasn't able to be near her for longer than three minutes without touching her. Once he timed it.) "That was how my dream ended. In front of your bedroom window." An awkward question came to mind. "Why didn't you ever tell me you and Ryan are lovers?"
Suddenly sad, she rested her head on his chest. "We're not lovers. We're married."
He didn't take the news all that well. In fact, he broke away from her and began to yell his head off.
"How could you marry Lavery?"
"What do you care?" she cried out. "You think I'm some backstabber who used to work for my Mother!"
"I want you to be real!" he hollered in his own defense, wanting to shake her until she understood how much he needed her in his life, only that might hurt her and he could never hurt her. "Why should I go on living in dreams, if there's a chance I can find you?"
He was a study in pain as he said those words.
"It won't be me," she said miserably, knowing he didn't know what that meant, barely beginning to know herself what that meant. "And the Zach Slater I can look for in Las Vegas won't be you."
They stood together staring at the oncoming iceberg.
"Maybe reasonable facsimiles are the best we can do," he suggested.
"Maybe," she granted. "Maybe not. Please give me a fact about Zach Slater that I can check. If it's confirmed, we'll have proof that this isn't my dream or your dream. It's our dream! It will mean that both of us exist! Somewhere. Somehow."
"And then what?" he asked, momentarily allowing for the possibility.
She put her hands on his broad shoulders. "At least we'll know we're not nuts. You can still go find your stupid Kendall Hart, if you need to."
"And you'll take up with your stupid Zach Slater?" he asked, as if she were real.
"I'm not taking up with anybody," she told them both. "I'm married to Ryan. I have everything I've ever dreamed of."
That did it. She used his favorite phrase. She was nothing but a dream. Still…
"Please, Zach! One fact! Anything I can check so I'll know this is real, and I'm not crazy!"
"This isn't real," he thought. "And I'm the one who is crazy."
"Zach Slater's father was Alexander Cambias," he told her. "Zach Slater is Alexander Cambias, Jr."
The Titanic slammed into the iceberg, and Zach and Kendall woke up in their separate realities.
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Will Zendall find a way to find each other or will they be satisfied with reasonable facsimiles? Please return for our next exciting Chapter when we may find out if two Zendalls are better than one! Please review, so I'll know I'm not dreaming!